Silver Bullets: A Soldier's Story of How Coors Bombed in the Beer Wars

The gang that couldn't shoot straight had nothing on the conservative, Commie-hating, union-baiting, employee-polygraphing, beer-brewing Coors family of Colorado and the firm's profane and profligate management team during the 1980s, according to this persuasive black-humor business saga by a former Coors marketing analyst. Competing with Miller, Budweiser et al., Coors managers lost millions as a string of failed new products led to a popular low-price brand that disastrously undercut a long-established Coors money-maker. Crepitation contests at staff meetings and unbridled revelry at Las Vegas promotional events did not help matters, explains the author, who also faults Coors for biased hiring, massive water pollution and deceptive practices in publicity and advertising. (May)